Atos and Materialise create revolutionary insert

Atos, a specialist in digital services, and Materialise NV, a specialist in software and solutions for Additive Manufacturing (also known as 3D Printing), have recently presented a revolutionary titanium insert for spacecraft structures. This joint launch puts both companies at the top of providers of high-end products and advanced engineering solutions for 3D Printing. The product was revealed at the European Conference on Spacecraft Structures, Materials and Environmental Testing, ECSSMET 2016.

Marta García-Cosío, mechanical engineering director at Atos Spain, says: “We are proud with this innovation. By creating this complex product in metal additive manufacturing in such a short time, Atos and Materialise are amongst the top of providers of Metal 3D Printing solutions. The weight reduction will allow the increase of useful equipment to be used in satellites and result in considerable cost saving in each launch”.

These highly loaded inserts are used as mounting points to lift big and heavy structures. The comprehensive study performed by the Atos and Materialise team, has achieved a reduction of weight of the component up to a third of its initial weight, improving some of its properties and overall performance. The insert was manufactured by Metal 3D Printing in titanium, in a process also known as Selective Laser Melting (SLM). Inserts were manufactured at the Materialise Metal 3D Printing Factory in Bremen, Germany.

A team of materials scientists at NYU Tandon School of Engineering has developed the first process to 3D print components of syntactic foam — extremely strong and lightweight composites used in vehicles, airplanes, and ships.

NVBOTS, the provider of automated, enterprise 3D printing solutions disrupting business and education, has been recently honoured in Fast Company’s annual ranking of the world’s Most Innovative Companies for 2016.